Organic nitro compounds have been widely used in the explosives art. Many organic nitro compounds exhibit high explosive energy values, but are relatively sensitive to impact and/or heat. There is a need for organic nitro compounds, which combine high explosive energy values with low thermal and impact sensitivity.
The present invention comprises the novel compound 1,3,5,7-tetranitroadamantane, which exhibits high explosive energy together with excellent impact and thermal stability. Lower nitro derivatives of adamantane have been prepared in the past. Thus, 1-nitro- and 1,3-dinitroadamantanes have been prepared by a tungstate-catalyzed oxidation of the corresponding amino compounds with hydrogen peroxide (G. L. Driscoll, U.S. Pat. No. 3,535,390 (1970)). The nitration of adamantane with concentrated nitric acid in glacial acetic acid at elevated temperature and pressure has been reported to produce 1-nitro-, 1,3-dinitro-, and 1,3,5-trinitroadamantanes, the last in very low yield (G. W. Smith and H. D. Williams, J. Org. Chem. 26, 2207) (1961); U.S. Pat. No. 3,053,907 (1962)). The nitration of alkyladamantanes with nitrogen dioxide at elevated temperature has been reported to yield the 1-nitro- and 1,3-dinitro derivatives (A. Schneider, U.S. Pat. No. 3,258,498 (1966)), while the photochemical reaction of N.sub.2 O.sub.5 with adamantane yields only mononitration (I. Tabushi et al, Chemistry Letters (Japan), 1431 (1974)).